FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH, AFRICA TOLD...Give priority to health sector - Prof. Benno Ndulu

THE Governor of the central Bank of Tanzania (BoT), Professor Benno Ndulu, has urged African governments to consider the heath sector as a priority area for their citizens, saying that good health is a means to raising economic growth. The good professor threw this challenge at economic and financial stakeholders from 20 sub-Sahara African countries who were gathered in Dar es Salaam early this week for the 14th Seminar on African Economic Research Consortium (AERC). The event, which was attended by about 80 participants including central bank governors and finance ministers of the African countries in the region, deliberated on various economic issues affecting their countries, and ways on how to attain the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for their respective countries by the 2015 deadline! Ndulu said “good heath has a direct impact on raising productivity through increased productive performance of individuals engaged in the production of goods and services.” Not only that, he went on, adding that “good health is, in fact, considered an entitlement that every citizen in a country deserves for their well-being.” Basing his views on the proclamation of the need to fulfill the United-Nations-initiated MDGs, and the commitment of each country towards attainments of those goals, Ndulu said “the burden of disease resulting from poor health is a major constraint to rapid growth, particularly for African countries where the tropical climate is a fertile host to a wide range of diseases.” To illustrate, 'Roll Bank Malaria' statistics for the malaria disease and its prevalence in Africa estimate that there are more than one million deaths which result from 300 million acute cases of malaria globally each year. About 90 per cent of the deaths occur in Africa alone, as a result of the combination of preponderance of infections and low ability to cope with them. It is also estimated that malaria alone costs Africa about US$12 billion every year in lost productivity (GDP) as a result of malarial infections. The (GDP) growth penalty from malaria is estimated at 1.3 per cent annually in some Africa countries! “The burden of this is not just in terms of lost growth,” Professor Ndulu said, adding that direct costs to households for heath care ― and to government ― are heavy when measured in relation to income levels in the African region. The costs range between 2.5 and seven per cent of household incomes on average! Based on research studies,

invariably health-related private expenditures take up a higher proportion of household incomes in African countries than in other regions of the world. Higher poverty in the region is a major reason for this. Despite all this, Africa still hosts more than one-third of the world’s poor. The indirect costs are also significant ― particularly the number of hours lost through ill-health. Health budgets take a significant portion of total government revenue, in most cases coming to second only to education!Giving examples from Tanzania, Prof. Ndulu said “there is evidence to show that the poor have increased their access to publicly-provided social services, including health and education via the removal or reduction of fees for basic services.” Ndulu, who was once an AERC executive director, paints a clear picture of how the efforts of the government of Tanzania to reduce other poverty dimensions ― like health and education services delivery between 2000 and 2010 fiscal year ― are yet to significantly tame income poverty at the individual and macro-levels in the country! He says government expenditure on education as a percentage of total budget rose from 6.8 per cent in the fiscal year 1995/96 to 16.3 per cent in 2011/2012, while that of health rose from 3.7 per cent to 8.8 per cent! During this period, education, water and health were treated as priority sectors by the Tanzania government. In that regard, the rapidly growing domestic revenue, as well as foreign aid resources, were more than proportionately geared towards the delivery of these services. The growth experience in Tanzanian during the last decade has shown that high rates of economic growth can be achieved without making fast and deep inroads into income poverty reduction. Over the last decade, annual growth of the economy has averaged an impressive seven per cent. However, the rate of reduction in income poverty levels has remained unacceptably low. For example, income poverty measured by the Headcount Index declined only marginally ― from 35.7 in 2001 to 33.6 in 2007 ― even though the GDP growth rate averaged 7.1 per cent over the period!

TPSF trains 8,000 entrepreneurs since 1998

The Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF) through its Business Development Gateway (BDG) Program has trained about 8,000 entrepreneurs in the country since the program started four years ago. TPSF Program Manager Sosthenes Sambua said last week in Dar es Salaam that the major concept under which the program is undertaken aims at capacity building, awareness on entrepreneurship skills and knowledge-based to enable entrepreneurs to develop small and medium enterprises (SMEs). He said that the BDG program trains potential entrepreneurs to take uo leadership roles and manage self-created business enterprises. The program also trains entrepreneurs to be more creative and face various challenges arising from competition. To achieve its goals, TPSF undertakes the training of business club leaders and their members in general, to widen up knowledge to appreciate various business tactics tasking managers on a daily basis. Beneficiaries of such training have become more productive and quality observant for products suitable for local, regional and wider demand. TPSF Acting Executive Director Godfrey Simbeye threw a challenge to the government for delaying appropriate decisions, saying that bureaucracy hinders small scale business development. He appealed to responsible authorities to remove such barriers so as to open up more business opportunities. He however, challenged entrepreneurs in the country to be innovative so as to be able to thrive in the local market and outside. He made the remarks to 54 chairpersons and secretaries of the BDG clubs from various regions gathered for a two day seminar organized by TPSF on entrepreneurship held last week in Dar es Salaam. Most entrepreneurs in the country fail to break through in business for lack of new ideas and innovation. The training together aimed at improving entrepreneurship skills and business management, communication as well as innovation and competitiveness. About Tsh. 15 billion was spent by TPSF to train over 8,000 entrepreneurs since its establishment in 2008, the acting CEO noted, elaborating that the BDG program is a government initiative expiring this year, and focuses to strengthen entrepreneurial culture by creating critical mass of capable entrepreneurs. Another TPSF training program is the Matching Grants Program (MGP) which ran from 2008 to 2011 and consisted of two matching grant schemes, the Tanzania Business Development Scheme (TBDS) and the Technical Innovation Applied Research Scheme (TIAS), both managed under a single management contract housed in TPSF, he elaborated. TPSF was aimed at improving the competitiveness of private firms in export markets and domestic markets as well, providing standard 50 percent cost-sharing grants to private firms procuring outside services and travel, within a properly-formulated business development plan, aimed at improving competitiveness and thus boosting sales, he further noted. The Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF) was established on 4th November 1998 as a result of multi-folded efforts by various stakeholders in the private sector. It was established as a company limited by guarantee to promote private sector-led social and economic development.

Highlights of marking Water Week, and ongoing projects

THE issue of water has become a major concern in many regions, with reports showing that a large portion of the country’s rural population has no access to clean and safe water. Statistics made available by the Ministry of Water and Irrigation indicate that 57 percent of the rural dwellers suffer for lack of reliable water supply. Due to this situation, most rural dwellers depends on hand drilled constructed water well sources which have shallow water which is unfit for use. Statistics further indicate that, there has been an acute shortage of water in urban areas due to leakage and dysfunctional underground water infrastructure, aggravated by increased demand, installation of haphazard pumps at households or hotels, etc. In order to effectively handle an escalating situation, the government decided to change the way water supply is administered, hiving it out of municipal authorities to become executive agencies, conducted under the Civil Service Reform Program. To facilitate its programs, the government spends 0.94 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or Tsh. 468 billion a year on water and sanitation services. The latest report of Water Aid states that the water sector development program has been through a turbulent year in 2011. Water Aid, an international non-governmental organization (NGO) recently launched a water project worth Tsh. 37.4 billion to ensure access to water for five million people during the next five years . Girish Menon, the head of Water Aid international program, said when launching the five year strategic plan that at least four million people will indirectly benefit, while another one million people will directly benefit from the project on improving sanitation and safe water supply. Users were expected to take initiatives in embarking on relevant technologies for improving safe water supply and sanitation services, he said, noting that the project is in line with the national strategy for growth and poverty reduction, MKUKUTA. Under the MKUKUTA drive, the government has set targets in accessing water in terms of percentage of population at 65 percent for rural areas, 57 percent for small towns, 95 percent for major urban areas and 75 percent for Dar es Salaam city specifically, while the sanitation target is 53 percent for urban areas and 35 per cent for rural people by 2015. Water is critical for sustainable development including environmental integrity and alleviation for poverty and hunger. Improving water supply and its sources for human well-being is recognized as among the key aspects of health and welfare generally. Having seen the importance of water, Tanzania government through the Ministry of Water and Irrigation saw the need to celebrate a national water-week with other nations worldwide in mid March. This year’s annual event was celebrated at the national level in Iringa region under the theme “Water for Food Security”. The theme highlights the significance of water on food security and its quality that reflects its cooperation with rural farmers who produces consumable foods and their importance of integrated approach to water resources. A colorful week-long event inaugurated by the Deputy Minister for Water and Irrigation, Gerson Lwenge allowed stakeholders within the sector inside and outside Tanzania to share experiences on development and management of water and sanitation through exhibitions. He admitted that the ministry is faced with lots of challenges and the biggest is where most people lack access to clean and safe water.

A woman draws stagnant water for domestic use. 57 percent of the Rural population in Tanzania have no access to clean and safe water. Describing the importance of this year’s theme, he said that food security is attained wherever there is availability of plenty of water in various areas from rain water, boreholes, rivers and streams. He says that dependence on rainfall for farming makes many peasants get losses in their farming yields, or if there is a long dry spell, crops dry up, resulting into poor harvests. ‘Maji Week’ as it is known is mainly used for dissemination of the water policy strategy and water sector development programs. All regions marked the week as appropriate in the local context, to activities such as promoting of public awareness on water issues through publications and dissemination of documentaries. This annual event permits stakeholders of the water industry to highlight various strategies of getting safe drinking water and promote rainwater harvesting technology cheaply enough. The main objective of the event is to create awareness and sensitize the public on water sector plans and reforms, the importance of their participation in environmental sanitation and water supply programs, evaluating achievements, identifying problems and drawing up strategies for implementation. Local communities have complex priorities for the use of water for economic activities and for household needs. Men and women often have different priorities and responsibilities, while cultural conditions affect indigenous practices and societal values in managing water sustainably. Statistics shows that Tanzania has sufficient water resources to meet most of its present needs, including surface and underground sources. About 7 percent of the land surface is covered by three large fresh water lakes on the borders, apart from other inland lakes. The three lakes are Lake Victoria, the second largest in the world, Lake Tanganyika, the second deepest in the world and Lake Nyasa. Inland lakes are Rukwa, Eyasi, Natron and Manyara, with considerable water resources existing in these lakes. There are also big rivers flowing to the lakes. Underground water is also another important source of water for both urban and rural settlement areas. There is a great variation of water availability between parts of the country. The variation is explained by differences in topography, rainfall patterns and climate. About one third of the country receives less than 800mm of rainfall per annum and they are considered arid or semi arid. The country experiences a long dry season normally extending from June to October where river levels slump and water reserves are tested. Surface water resources in the country consists of lakes, rivers, springs man-made reservoirs and natural ponds. About 50 percent of the surface run water is derived from the main rivers flowing directly to the Indian Ocean and these are Pangani, Wami, Mkondoa, Ruvu, Rufiji, Ruaha, Kilombero, Mbarangandu, Matandu, Mbwemkuru, Likuledi and Ruvuma rivers. The remaining 50 percent is divided into surface water drainage into the main internal drainage basins which have no outlet to the sea. Tanzania has 5,439,000 ha of lakes and swamps which represent 5.8 percent of the totals land surface, but this number excludes seasonally inundated flood plains. Ground water is major source of water for many areas with the most viable found in the central and northern parts of the country, encompassing the drier regions of Dodoma, Singida, Shinyanga, Tabora, Mwanza, Mara, Arusha, Coast and southern parts of Kilimanjaro. The Drilling and Dam Construction Agency (DDCA) is an active player towards improving water supply services in the country. Its role as a government agency is to develop sustainable and safe water sources through efficient means and at cost effective price. DDCA’s Chief Executive Officer, Jonathan Ngaiwa says that, this objective is in line with the national objective of alleviating poverty and improving the health of people through provision of clean, safe and adequate water supply to rural and urban population. DDCA’s vision is to be a leading and efficient organization in the business of water well drilling and construction of water storage dams for sustainable water sources and ensuring that clients get value for money from services provided. Over 4,000 deep boreholes have been drilled by the agency since its launch in 1999. This achievement signifies that DDCA serves large numbers of people as well as livestock, industrial works and construction.

High Court saves NICOL from extinction

THE High Court of Tanzania meeting in Dar es Salaam has ordered resumption of trading activities at Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange (DSE) by the National Investments Company Limited (NICoL) with immediate effect, Business Times has learned. Trading at the local bourse by NICOL was suspended last year, when the DSE Governing Council de-listed the private sector investment entity from the bourse on July 6, 2011 over the company’s failure to submit its 2009 and 2010 financial statements as the market rules and regulations stipulate. NICOL became the first company in the 12-year history of DSE to be de-listed. The Governing Council initially suspended the investment firm pending the submission of the documents before NICOL automatically de-listed itself from the bourse for non-compliance. During the suspension, the Council demanded the company's financial reports for the two consecutive years, as well as details of NICOL’s intention to sell 22 million shares as part of its stake in the National Micro-finance Bank (NMB). The bank is also listed with DSE. NICOL have always blamed the national capital markets regulator, the Capital Markets & Securities Authority (CMSA), for its failure to comply with DSE requirements. This is on account of the fact that CMSA had suspended the company's Board of Directors, and its chief executive officer (CEO), since March 2011! In what became a pattern of CMSA actions against NICOL, after the Authority had removed the NICOL Board and CEO, it also froze all the company's bank accounts. This left NICOL with nobody to manage it, and no arrangements could be made to replace the removed officials There was no way in which NICOL office rent, salaries for the staff, etc, could be paid. NICOL was also suspended from trading for a month in August 2009 after the regulators noticed abnormalities in its financial statement, with analysts doubting its credibility amid feelings that it was doctored! In any case, the company had managed to produce only a single statement since its listing at the bourse in 2008! If not sorted out soon enough, these developments would almost certainly have led to the death of NICOL. It was as a result of this welter of confusion that the NICOL management went to Court. It filed a lawsuit in the High Court on March 21, 2011 seeking legal protection against CMSA's actions. NICOL argued that none of CMSA's accusations and charges held water, including removal of the company's Board and its CEO from its operations.

NICOL's Managing Director Mr. Felix Mosha Claims by CMSA that it wanted to conduct an investigation into NICOL were without merit, the company stated, arguing that the Authority had already conducted such an investigation a month earlier. More importantly, CMSA had no legal right to access any information in NICOL offices and files! “CMSA did not have to remove the Board — and much less the CEO whom it was expected to rely upon for the information they would have needed for their investigation,” the company maintained. During the hearing, CMSA argued in court that NICOL had no right to file a suit in the High Court. However, the Court ruled that the company did in fact have the right to file a suit against CMSA, and the High Court has the jurisdiction to hear the case. Following that ruling, CMSA further argues that NICOL had no issues worthy of a court suit against the Authority. However, on July 25, 2011, the Court dismissed that claim, ruling that in fact the company did have substantial issues against CMSA. In the event, the High Court determined that NICOL had raised serious legal issues worth looking into by the Court, and that the issues raised were likely to contravene the law and affect NICOL's rights. That High Court ruling opened the way for the hearing of NICOL's case against CMSA. On Tuesday this week, the High Court rendered what could be a landmark decision, squashing the directives which CMSA had communicated to NICOL. In effect, the Court lifted the order that removed the NICOL Board and CEO, and unfroze the company's bank accounts. For good measure, the Court directed CMSA to always conduct its activities in accordance with the law! The NICOL Board chairman, Felix Mosha, told a press conference in Dar es Salaam yesterday that the High Court ruling is a triumph not only for the firm's Board and Management but, more importantly, it was victory for its long-suffering shareholders! Noting that the shareholders had been in the dark regarding matters pertaining to their company because of the legal processes which were ongoing in the courts, Mosha regretted these unfortunate developments that were unnecessary in the first place. However, the stakeholders can be assured that “NICOL remains a strong and viable company for all its 46,631 stakeholders, some of whom are entities with thousands of shareholders of their own! He stressed that the its stakeholders' investments were not only safe and sound. Indeed the company had grown from the original investment of Tsh11.7 billion to over Tsh30 billion, with over 80 per cent of that in NICOL shares, which are in the category of liquid assets. Describing NICOL as “a company of the poor in this country,” Mosha said that, “on its own, it has no capacity to withstand attacks from a powerful state institution. It's only recourse for protection had to be the country's judicial system. “Therefore, NICOL wishes to commend the High Court for its fair and impartial ruling. In these times when the courts come under increasing criticism and scrutiny, it is important that Tanzanians gives thanks and praise when both are due. “The court's ruling has not been a victory for the NICOL chairman or its Board... Nor even for NICOL itself, but for all Tanzanians who are committed to greater involvement of Tanzanians in their national economy. NICOL so far remains the only major entity that is fully owned by Tanzanians from all walks of life; people who have pooled their investments together,” Chairman Mosha eulogized .

Tanzanian contractors told to boycott substandard building materials

TANZANIA has every reason to proud itself in maintaining a firm engineering works as since independence 50 years ago, the country has never had experienced serious house collapse compared to what has occurred in other East African states. In view of this, an appeal has been made to contractors and engineers to continue their stance by rejecting the suspected locally and imported manufactured sub standard building materials which are sold out by unscrupulous traders in the country. According to building and engineering experts, substandard building materials are the major cause of house collapse if used for construction. Their lifespan is shorter and hence have lower sustainability. The registrar of the National Engineers Registration Board (ERB) Engineer Steven Mlote gave the call early this week in Dar es Salaam that, “the continued boycott of the counterfeit building materials would effectively maintain our houses for a longer lifespan”. However, he has urged contractors of high storey buildings in the country to develop the habit of taking their building materials for testing in order to establish their durability and sustainability and quality as well. Engineer Mlote was contributing his comments during a live TV talk show in a program entitled “House is Life” which is aired at 21:00 hrs on every Monday by Star TV. The program is being conducted on behalf of the National Housing Corporation by a famous TV presenter Ephraim Kibonde. During the talk show, Engineer Mlote noted that, Tanzania has not had a bad record of house collapse since independence time, and that three serious incidences have ever happened in the country. “This is a significant outlook of the building sector for the history of house building in this country”. He said.

ERB Registrar Engineer Steven Mlote, addressing fellow engineers during one of the past ERB meetings with other stakeholders in Dar es Salaam However, he mentioned three minor disasters of the house collapse which have happened in the country which occurred in recent years within the last five years, with the latest one which happened at Kisutu in the heart of the Dar es Salaam city centre in 2008. Other incidences he mentioned happened in 1986 along Msimbazi near Kariakoo market, this was the worst ever to be recorded that claimed the lives of seven people. He also mentioned another disaster of house collapse which occurred in 2006 at Temeke and lost the lives of two people on the spot. According to Engineer Mlotte, the collapse of a house mostly occurs due to negligence of contractors and owners of buildings who prefers to use cheap building materials which are of the lowest quality an aspect that cannot sustain the foundation from the basement. On fire occurrences, such disasters occurs as most building owners ignores to hire electrical professionals to do their work more professionally for fear of high expenses incurred for wiring, and instead resort to cheap technicians the so-called 'Vishoka'. He has therefore urged the people in the country to get away with the notion of acquiring such cheap labour which ultimately costs them a lot. In view of this, he says that registered electrical engineers are the best people to hire for the work of wiring in order to avoid the impending any fire disasters.

A German company offers a counterfeit drug detector in Tanzania

MEDICINE Users in the country are assured of safe and quality medicines of the locally manufactured as well as imported products following the donation of five mobile mini-laboratory medical equipment by a German company to be used to detect fake drugs circulated in the local market. The equipments were handed over in Dar es Salaam city recently to the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare. The equipments would be used by the ministry to support government led initiative aimed at halting circulation of counterfeit drugs, which has increasingly becoming a big threat to millions of Tanzanian lives. A German based Pharmaceutical, Chemical and life science company known as Global Pharma Health Fund donated the mini labs to be used by the Ministry of Health in collaboration with its agency for detecting inferior and counterfeit medicines which are said to have dominated Tanzania market. Counterfeit medicines are a serious threat to health care not only in Tanzania but worldwidwe, says Dr. Karl Ludwig Kley, the Chairman of the Merk Executive Board who officially presented the donation to the health and Social Welfare Minister Dr. Hadji Mponda. He has expressed optimism that his compact labaratory equipments would help improve the structures of drug monitoring and ensuring scarce resources are not wasted on worthless and even hazardous medicines. Dr. Mponda has however, assured Tanzanians that the equipments will help to intensify the country's fight against counterfeit hospital medicines as the compacts have the ability to detect products quickly and cost efficiently and reliably.

Health Minister Dr. Hadji Mponda receiving equipments to be used top detect counterfeit medicines in the country from a German company. He says, his ministry through its agency Tanzania Food and Drug Authority (TFDA) instituted a quality assurance program in the country in 2002 in order to check counterfeit drugs which has so far shown a tremendous progress indeed. The program which had been funded by World Health Organization aimed to screen the quality of medicines entering Tanzania market from foreign and domestic manufacturers and to a greater extent it has denied the market entry to substandard and counterfeit medical products. Among other objectives the program intends to develop is an appropriate and comprehensive national quality assurance system that would be able of easing to a greater extent that both imported and locally manufactured medicines meet. Fake and counterfeit drugs is a global problem and its negative effects are felt by many countries, and in view of this, it therefore requires massive support from all stakeholders and key players in the country, says TFDA's Director of Laboratory Services Ms. Charys Ugulum. According to her, TFDA has put down effective and strategic measures in order to eradicate the escalating phenomenon, and therefore fight against unscrupulous traders in the country who are fond of doing such malpractices. According to the International Police Organization (Interpol) estimates that up to 30 percent of all medicines in Africa are either counterfeit or of inferior quality.

NEED TO HAVE RENT RESTRICTION ACT IN NEW CONSTITUTION

Stakeholders say it will save 14 million Tanzanians who are denied decent and affordable urban housing THE Dar es Salaam based housing stakeholders commonly known as 'Merchant Chamber' has appealed to the government to look at the possibility of injecting an Act on the newly adopted national draft constitution which would help house tenants to achieve their legal rights from their landlords. They say that, the law amendments of rent restriction in the newly adopted constitution of the Republic of Tanzania would save about 14 million Tanzanians who are denied decent and affordable urban housing settlements. According to housing stakeholders, there has been little control of the rental housing business especially in urban areas where about 60 percent of urban residents reside in rental houses while 40 percent of their incomes is spent on accommodation. They have therefore asked the government to review the Act in its newly adopted national draft constitution so as to establish a specific law of controlling this business because its absence has made landlords wield so much power over their tenants. The law should among other things forbid landlords for claiming for yearly rental fees yet employees are paid salaries monthly, a situation that has been placing tenants in arrears while others engage in corrupt acts to afford the housing expenses.

They resist the currently used rent restriction Act saying it's outdated ever since it was enacted way back in 1950s during colonialism. But the new Act would mean to safeguard the welfare of tenants. Among other things, the law will put a barrier for landlords from demanding advance rent payments. However, in 2005 this law was repealed for reasons best known to those who engineered its deletion. The detrimental effects this decision caused, is that it condemned millions of tenants to the uncertain life they continue to endure until today, as landlords are free to hike their house rents with impunity. According to Marchant Chamber, under the new constitution, the experience teach that, “there is the need for the right to decent and affordable housing to be included among other rights which are presently set out in Chapter 1, part 3 of the constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania. Basing on their basic demand as far as the issue is concerned, the Chamber claims that, “by favoring the National Housing Corporation (NHC), the government has given a green light to all other landlords to victimize millions of tenants and pose a great threat to national peace and stability”.